Better labelling of food, including country of origin, is voted for

Temperatures have been kept down by a north easterly breeze, making it cool to stand around, but ideal for some manual work.

We missed the rain that swept across the Midlands on Friday night unfortunately, as its getting very dry again.

The maize is thriving in these conditions, but a little drink would go down very well indeed.

We are cutting silage today, a couple of days earlier than originally planned, as I hear we may get some rain towards the end of the week.

It is ready, and at just under six weeks, the quality is very good, although there are a few seed heads to be seen.

We will empty the second lagoon of dirty water on the aftermaths, ensuring good re-growth on at least 100 acres, as we aim to cut a third time by the 1st of August.

If conditions allow, we will then re-seed the fields that have not been done in the last two or three years, bringing all our silage and grazing fields up to scratch, with good clover content to assist quality and reduce the need for bought in Nitrogen.

We have been following the cows as they graze each paddock with the vacuum tanker, spreading separated digestate from the bio-digester on the land.

This liquid has tested at 3 per cent Nitrogen, and it also boosts the clover in the swards which is good for further N fixing, and of course high quality grass for the cows.

This method does need some rain at least every three weeks to work at its best, and so far, we have had that.

With Wimbledon coming soon, we should be alright for a few showers!

By the time you read this the longest day will be past, but with a bit of luck we still have the summer to enjoy.

I have just fixed up my straw contract for the next 12 months, as I have become increasingly worried by the lack of height in the cereal crops this year, and as I travel the country I see less barley, and some of it not doing very well.

We use a lot of straw and two thirds of it is barley; I have therefore secured the tonnage we need. It is all going to be delivered in as we need it, allowing us the luxury of not having to stack half of it and all the problems that entails with plastic sheets.

Members of the European Parliament narrowly voted in favour of better labelling of food, which included country of origin labelling.

It was not straightforward by any means, with MEPs saying that this has been the biggest issue they have faced, with large companies, processors, retailers lobbying hard against.

The NFU were in there lobbying hard too, and won the argument with enough MEPs to carry the day.

This was the first step, and we will now need to fight every step of the way to prevent any watering down of this important decision.

It was a good day in Strasbourg as MEPs also voted down the simplistic, and much hated 'traffic lights' system of labelling food for nutritional content.

This was a very narrow majority too, but a win is a win. MEPs sensibly favoured guidelines on daily amounts, which express how much a food contributes towards daily intake in a range of nutrients.

The traffic light labelling method was particularly hard on dairy products, with cheese being high in salt and fat, but of course very good for you indeed, full of flavour and generally eaten in moderation by all.

When did you last see anyone gorging on an excess amount of cheese?

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is in the process of deciding what to do with the 'Food Standard Agency'.

Given that it has moved from being an excellent body under Professor John Bourne, looking after food safety and sticking to good science, taking no nonsense from anyone, to becoming the Labour Government's agency for the nation's health, under Dame Deidre Hutton.

I hope that it will be returned to its original task of food safety.

It does look as if Andrew Lansley is considering a change in the FSA's structure, moving nutrition to the Department of Health.

The Quango was tight lipped about the European Parliament's decision to abandon its 'traffic light' system of labeling, and the adoption of 'cool', which the FSA has opposed.

Commonsense has prevailed, and there is a good opportunity here to save taxpayers money by cutting down on the FSA's activity, as it has now been demonstrated that we all want to know where our food is coming from and not being told what to eat.

Roll back the nanny state!

Milklink Co-op has increased its milk price further, leaving First Milk Co-op in its wake, and for the first time paying more to farmers than Dairy Crest Plc, who are owners of leading brand Cathedral City Cheese.

It has been a long time coming, but we now have a farmer owned Co-op leading the market, and pushing farm-gate prices up.

I had a long conversation at the Royal Cornwall Show with CEO Neil Kennedy, and I congratulated him on not only this latest achievement, but in also paying very good dividends to his dairy farmer shareholders.

Neil is a very impressive individual, always straight when answering questions, and confident enough to be open about his approach, plans for the future and problems; most unusual in dairy processing.

Neil Kennedy is also clever enough to understand the NFU's criticism of dairy processors, as major PLC's make record profits, refusing to pass increased prices back to farmers.

We are now in the bottom half of the EU price league table, as European countries capitalise on the recovering world market. Dairy UK and its notorious CEO Jim Begg, pretend that the dairy market is 'complicated' as they try to defend the indefensible.

Look out Jim, the WI is planning to look at dairy again this autumn, and will give you and your mates a good 'hand-bagging' if you keep on cheating farmers of their just return for their efforts.

If only retailers would now pay the right price for cheese we would be in a better place, they are way behind where the market should be and exerting huge pressures, resisting higher prices.

Meanwhile, as dairy farmers continue to leave the industry, Members of Parliament debate the 'industrialisation' of dairy farming.

With very low prices being common across the board, farmers who intend to stay in this business are expanding and very often keep their larger herds inside for most of the year.

Everyone wants 'traditional' dairy farming to continue, but at a price where it will not.

We will either see bigger units or indeed, far less dairy farming in this country if we are not allowed to meet future challenges.